Budget 2021 not free of pork – Makabayan block

MANILA, Philippines – The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives is trying to disprove President Lord Allan Velasco’s claim that the proposed $ 4.5 trillion national budget for 2021 approved by the House in the third and final reading Friday for the night is pig free.

ACT Teachers representative France Castro said Saturday that P16.4 billion for barangay development projects under the National Task Force to End Communist Armed Conflict remained in the budget and that the item “was not clearly defined. “, so it was” essentially pig. “

“The President said there is no pig, but I think this is pig because it is a lump sum [appropriation] and it is at the discretion of [President] Duterte’s generals, ”Castro said in an online press conference.

Another Makabayan lawmaker questioned the allocation of billions of pesos to the task force that could have been allocated for the government’s response to the coronavirus.

“There is a budget of P19.1 billion for [task force] while many Filipinos are starving due to the pandemic. [The government] prioritized funding from a non-agency [task force], which is only a coordinating body, ”said Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas in the same briefing.

Under the proposed General Appropriations Law for 2021, the task force has a budget of P19 billion, of which P16 billion is earmarked for its barangay development program.

National security adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., vice chair of the task force, previously said that 822 remote barangays would each receive P20 million from the fund.

Velasco told reporters late Friday that the House had approved a “constitutional budget” without a “pig.”

But Brosas said the budget was “riddled with [irregularities] and pork “.

He cited the P38 billion right-of-way fund allocated to the Department of Public Works and Highways, which he said was “vulnerable to corruption and arbitrary spending.”

Brosas regretted that while huge amounts were allocated for the construction, repair and maintenance of roads, bridges and flood control projects, no funds were allocated for the construction of hospitals.

“This 2021 budget really left public health, aid delivery, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and the agricultural sector,” he said.

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar had expressed confidence that his agency’s proposed budget would pass the scrutiny of lawmakers.

Intelligence background

Bayan Muna’s representative, Eufemia Culliamat, criticized the allocation of P4.5 billion for the president’s intelligence fund.

“The intelligence and confidential fund was increased, although it is not clear where this fund will be spent and certainly there will be no accountability,” Culliamat said.

Bayan Muna’s representative, Ferdinand Gaite, said that a large part of the proposed budget of P4.5 trillion would come from loans.

“It is estimated that P3 trillion will be borrowed,” Gaite said.

The House approved the proposed budget at the end of a four-day special session called by President Duterte to avoid delay due to a leadership dispute between Velasco and Taguig’s representative, Alan Peter Cayetano.

A delay would have led to the rebuilding of the 2020 budget, which contained nothing for the response to the pandemic.

By refusing to hand over leadership to Velasco under a shared term agreement negotiated by the president last year, Cayetano lost majority support and was ousted as president last week.

Smooth sailing in the Senate

ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Yap, chairman of the House appropriations committee, said Friday that an electronic copy of the approved budget will be sent to the Senate by Oct. 28 to give senators a few weeks to study it sooner. to resume the session in November. .9.

The chairman of the Senate finance committee on Sunday expressed optimism that the budget will run smoothly in the chamber.

In a radio interview, Senator Sonny Angara praised Velasco for the Marinduque representative’s quick response to complaints raised by Senators Panfilo Lacson and Franklin Drilon about a possible delay in the approval of the budget on the previous schedule, with the transmission of the House passed. version to the Senate on November 5.

Lacson previously warned that the 2020 budget could be re-enacted if the transmission of the general appropriations bill passed by the House of Representatives goes through Nov.5.

He and Drilon also reminded the House that introducing amendments to the budget measure through a small committee after its approval at third reading was unconstitutional.

A small committee in the House received and resolved agency budget amendments after the second reading early Friday.

—With a report from DJ Yap

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